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February 22, 2007 


Afghan warlords plan pro-amnesty law demonstration
Thu Feb 22, 6:46 AM ET
KABUL (AFP) - Afghan warlords Thursday announced plans for a demonstration in Kabul in support of a controversial bill that would give amnesty for crimes committed during the country's years of conflict.
The planned demonstration on Friday at the Kabul sports stadium comes after the upper house of parliament approved the legislation on Tuesday.

The lower house passed the bill in January, but President Hamid Karzai, whose agreement is needed for the bill to become law, has yet to sign it.

"In the gathering, the people will show their support for the jihadi leaders and for the amnesty bill," said Waqif Hakimi, spokesman for Jamyat Islami, one of the Islamist factions involved in the country's 1992-1996 civil war.

"It will be huge. I think 50,000 people will attend."

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary confirmed that a "big" demonstration was planned, and said authorities had asked for a peaceful gathering.

Commanders and fighters of the jihad, or holy war, against the 1980s Soviet occupation have been accused of war crimes and abuses including murder and torture during the 1992-1996 civil war that followed the Red Army's defeat.

The  United Nations and  Afghanistan's top rights body have said only the victims of abuse should be allowed to forgive the perpetrators.
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U.S. can't stay for long in Afghanistan: Hekmatyar
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan warlord on a U.S. wanted list has said the United States does not have the capacity to stay for long in  Afghanistan and he predicts it will pull out at the same time as it withdraws from  Iraq.

Denouncing the United States as "the mother of problems," Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister whose forces operate in southeastern areas near Pakistan, said Afghanistan's turmoil would not end until U.S. orces left the region.

"As long as America remains in Afghanistan and in the region, war and problems will continue," he said in a copy of a video tape obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

"I can say with full assurance and confidence that America does not have the ability to stay for a long period in Afghanistan...," he said.

Wearing a black turban, the bespectacled and heavily-bearded Hekmatyar said America's allies had sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq out of fear of Washington.

But he said a rift was emerging among them over whether they should stay on there. "My analysis is that America (will) pull out from Iraq and Afghanistan simultaneously and the withdrawal perhaps will happen this year," he declared.

Hekmatyar is on a U.S. government wanted list and leads an insurgency force separately from the Taliban Islamic movement against the Afghan government and foreign troops under the command of  NATO and the U.S. military.

His forces mostly operate in the rugged southeastern areas bordering Pakistan.

More than 4,000 people died by violence in the southeast and southern regions last year, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew Taliban's government in 2001.

The tape was provided by a sympathizer of Hekmatyar.

Hekmatyar was America's largest recipient of aid in the 1980s during the Soviet invasion.

His group of fighters helped bring about a Soviet withdrawal after ten years of occupation and the loss of some 15,000 soldiers and Hekmatyar advised U.S. and NATO troops to do likewise and pull out.

"The occupying forces...have only one successful way and ... that is to pull out of Afghanistan as soon as possible," he added.
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NATO chief in Afghanistan for talks
KABUL (AFP) -  NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was in Kabul on Thursday for talks with Afghan and alliance officials on the Taliban insurgency and reconstruction, a NATO spokesman said.

Scheffer, who arrived here on Wednesday, was likely to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other government officials late on Thursday, NATO spokesman Nicholas Lunt told AFP.

The alliance's chief has already met with US General Dan McNeill, the commander of the 37-nation, NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Lunt said.

The Secretary General is also due to meet some non-governmental organizations and to travel to some outlying Afghan provinces before his three-day visit ends, Lunt added.

"He'll go around the country before leaving," Lunt said, but would not give details because of security reasons.

NATO has more than 35,000 troops in  Afghanistan operating under a UN-mandated peacekeeping mission. Many are based in the south and east where Taliban militants are active.

Last week NATO military chief US General Bantz Craddock warned that the alliance's members were putting the lives of their soldiers in danger in Afghanistan by refusing to provide enough troops to fight off the Taliban.

An insurgency by the fundamentalist Taliban claimed more than 4,000 lives in 2006, making it the deadliest year in Afghanistan since US-led forces ousted the Islamic regime five years earlier.
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Report: Afghanistan's Karzai praises Pakistani steps against cross-border attacks
The Associated Press February 22, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Afghan government is happy with recent Pakistani steps to prevent Taliban militants from mounting crossborder attacks, President Hamid Karzai said in remarks published Thursday, while urging Islamabad to follow up with further efforts to counter the guerrillas.

Pakistan's The News newspaper quoted Karzai as saying in an interview that Taliban attacks in Afghanistan had declined in recent months and that Pakistan had taken welcome steps to stem the flow of militants across the mountainous border.

"We have seen an improvement in the situation. My government is happy with some of the measures adopted in this regard. But we feel that Pakistan needs to do more to tackle the problem," Karzai was quoted as saying.

The United States is also pressing Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to do more to tighten security along the border and clamp down on militant hide-outs and training camps in Pakistan's border regions ahead of an anticipated surge in violence this spring.

However, U.S. officials have sought to end a war of words between Karzai and Musharraf, who has angrily rejected accusations from Afghanistan that Pakistani forces are secretly helping the militants.

Today in Asia - Pacific
 Marriage brokers in Vietnam cater to S. Korean bachelors Indonesia ferry fire kills 15 UN expert urges Philippines to solve political killingsIn the newspaper interview, Karzai said he and Pakistani president — both vital U.S. allies in its war against terrorism — had decided to end their public feud and that the two nations "would prosper as friends."

Still, he pointed out that most attacks in Afghanistan take place along the Pakistani border and said that almost all of the suicide bombers attacking targets in Afghanistan were foreigners.

NATO troops supporting Karzai's feeble government are bracing for an anticipated surge in violence in Afghanistan once spring brings warmer weather and melts snow in mountain passes used by insurgents.

The News said Karzai had cast doubt on recent claims that the Taliban was readying as many as 10,000 fighters for the new fighting season.
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Australia to send team to Afghanistan to investigate troop increase
The Associated Press February 21, 2007
CANBERRA, Australia: Australia will send a military team to Afghanistan to investigate whether the Australian contingent of 500 troops there should be increased, the defense minister said Thursday.

Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said he was concerned about the potential for a Taliban spring offensive.

Nelson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio "a small group of appropriately senior military people from Australia" to would be sent to Oruzgan province to examine the need for a troop increase.

"No Australian should be surprised. In fact I would like to think that they would support it if we believed that in fact we had to increase our troop presence in Afghanistan," Nelson said.

Most of the Australian troops are involved in regional reconstruction work.

Today in Asia - Pacific
 Marriage brokers in Vietnam cater to S. Korean bachelors Indonesia ferry fire kills 15 UN expert urges Philippines to solve political killingsAustralia's commitment in Afghanistan has bipartisan support, although the opposition Labor Party wants the withdrawal of most of the 1,400 Australian troops from in and around Iraq.

Nelson declined to comment on a newspaper report Thursday that his government was considering sending up to 450 extra troops with new capabilities to Afghanistan, possibly including Black Hawk helicopters and an air defense radar team.

The plan to commit a new force of up to 250 elite ground troops plus 200 others is expected to be approved by the Cabinet next month if it is recommended by the reconnaissance team, The Australian national newspaper reported, without citing sources.
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Failure in Afghanistan would threaten US, European security: US adviser
Wed Feb 21, 1:56 PM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - US National Security Adviser  Stephen Hadley on Wednesday urged  NATO members to increase spending on alliance efforts in  Afghanistan, warning that failure of the mission there undermine European and US security.

Hadley, who held talks in Brussels with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said failure in Afghanistan would be a "tragedy" and called for increased funding for the operation.

"Both Europe and North America are increasing their contribution to the NATO mission. We are working together to ensure that if there is a spring offensive that it is a spring offensive of NATO against the Taliban which will help advance the security of that country," Hadley said at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"It is important that that mission succeeds so that Afghanistan does not become again a safe haven for terror," he added. "To fail would be a tragedy for the Afghan people but it would also threaten the security of both Europe and North America," he warned.

Hadley called on NATO member states to "step up in terms of our spending, in terms of developing the right kind of capability and showing the kind of solidarity that this alliance of multiple countries can work together to achieve a common mission".

A 33,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, largely comprising US troops, is deployed in Afghanistan as part of efforts to tackle a growing Taliban insurgency and expand the influence of the weak central government.

Hadley and the NATO chief also discussed other key areas of concern including  Iran,  Iraq, the Middle East,  Kosovo and relations with Russia, Hadley, a key adviser to US  President George W. Bush, told reporters.

Later Hadley met with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

Between now and Friday Hadley will also hold talks with his German and Russian counterparts in Berlin and Moscow, with Afghanistan on the agenda along with Kosovo, Lebanon and other Middle East issues, a US national security adviser spokesman said in Washington.

Last week the alliance's military chief warned that NATO nations are putting the lives of their soldiers in danger in Afghanistan by refusing to provide enough troops to fight off the Taliban,

"If you don't source this to 100 percent," said NATO military commander US General Bantz Craddock, "it places every NATO soldier there at greater risk."

Craddock said that NATO's military needs are "probably filled to 93 or 94 percent".

On the same day a purported Taliban commander said the militia was ready for its "biggest ever" offensive in Afghanistan this year.
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Afghanistan: Aid delivery limited by lack of information
LASHKAR GAH, 21 February 2007 (IRIN) - It has been 12 days since Khair Mohammed fled his home in Musa Qala in the troubled Helmand province and sought refuge in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. The capture of the district centre by the Taliban three weeks ago and the fear of retaliatory bombing by international forces forced him and hundreds of other families to leave their homes, taking only essentials.

"We heard that families who came from there [Musa Qala] received help, but I have not seen any help delivered to the families here," Mohammed complained.

Neither has 40-year-old Amanullah, who fled Musa Qala nine days earlier. "We don't have a carpet to sit on and no clothes to wear. There is no work available here and I have no option but to beg," he said.

Aid agencies acknowledge the acute problems of delivering assistance to people in conflict areas, admitting that only a fraction have received help because of access difficulties, compounded by a lack of accurate information about the extent of the problem.

According to Shaheer Shariar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), while 1,500 families had been displaced from Musa Qala, as of Sunday only 300 had received food and non-food assistance through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and the World Food Programme.

The UN agencies, however, were still working on the basis of initial estimates that only 500-600 families had been displaced.

There is even less information about more recent displacements in the province.

Assadullah Mayar of ARCS and Mohammed Qane of the MRRD's provincial department said about 3,000 more families were displaced from the Kajaki area of the province earlier this week, but there had been no move to assist them.

The problem of the lack of information and access in the southern provinces of Afghanistan was emphasised on Wednesday by Margareta Wahlström, the acting UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

At a press conference marking the end of her five-day mission to the country, Wahlström said: "One of the most difficult issues for all our actions in the south is access to the population limited by security concerns and moving battlefronts."

According to Wahlström, it was difficult to get accurate information and establish a baseline for providing help. To do so, more resources would have to be dedicated to the simple exercise of checking the information, she said.

Commenting on the situation in Musa Qala, she told IRIN that the estimates of the numbers of displaced differed hugely - one was twice as high as the other.

Meanwhile, back in Lashkar Gah, Mohammed hoped that some NGOs would provide relief to the displaced families, but even more that he would be able to return home soon to his land and his small business.

"If they can establish security in our areas we can go back to our own homes and we will not need the assistance of any government," the shopkeeper said.

There are only two circumstances under which he would return: "We will go home only if either the government assures us of security or the whole province is controlled by the Taliban. If the situation continues as it is now, we will not return. I remember very well that a bomb in our neighbourhood once killed 20 members of a family."
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Afghanistan: Women forced to quit work because of insecurity
LASHKAR GAH , 21 February 2007 (IRIN) - Jamila Niyazi has received several death threats as principal of Lashkar Gah girls’ high school in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Niyazi, who oversees 7,000 girls, is a target for ultra-conservative elements, including Taliban insurgents, who use propaganda, coercion and violence to spread their influence.

In ‘night letters’ delivered to her doorstep, followed up by threatening phone calls, the Taliban have repeatedly warned Niyazi to close down her school on the grounds that girls should not leave their homes.

She is not alone. Increasing insecurity in the southern province of Helmand, where the conflict between the anti-government elements and the international forces has intensified in recent months, has been pushing more and more women out of the workforce back into their homes.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior, which is responsible for security, agrees that safety has deteriorated, but says it does not have enough personnel to deal with the problem. Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said “there is no special unit for the protection of women”, but noted that “all citizens have the same rights”.

Soraya Sobhrang, a member of the Afghan Human Rights Commission, however, feels “women are the first who are victimised when there is no rule of law or security”. Reports from Helmand reveal that “young girls are unable to go to school and hospitals due to fear”.

But despite the fact that the Taliban are singling out women, little is being done to address the issue. Niyazi has yet to receive any help from the government or the security forces and has only managed to keep her school open by hiring security personnel to guard the school premises.

“I have not told the teachers about the threats and also hid the second letter from my own family,” she said. Others, with fewer resources, however, find it more difficult.

Woman kidnapped

Masooma, 19, and Noor Bibi, 40, worked in the vaccination unit of the local department of health until recently when they were told by their worried families to leave their jobs after a woman was reportedly kidnapped from Nad Ali district in the west of Helmand province.

“I know many women who are literate but have to stay at home because their families do not allow them to work,” Bibi said. The right to work, secured with difficulty by women in this province in the conservative Pashtun heartland, is being reversed.

Not only are there financial implications, lowering women’s standard of living, but without women teachers and doctors, women cannot be educated or seek medical treatment.

“If the families do not allow their daughters to study, we cannot have women teachers, doctors and engineers,” Masooma pointed out. “If there are no women doctors, there is no treatment for women patients”, since women in this ultra-traditional area are not allowed to be attended by male doctors.

Undoubtedly the absence of Masooma and Noor Bibi from the vaccination programme has affected the health of many children since men are not allowed to enter homes to administer polio vaccines to children.

Fouzia Olumi, director of the department of women’s affairs in Helmand, said the department, which had been running tailoring, computer training and English language classes for women, has had to curtail its activities after the murder of the administrative unit director and threatening phone-calls to many employees. The department, set up four years ago, has struggled to survive in difficult circumstances with minimal resources.

“Many women used to come to our office asking us to find them some work,” Olumi recalled, adding: “Many women will come again to work if security is restored.”

There are no estimates or statistics available on the number of women who have been forced to leave their jobs because of insecurity and 'night letter' threats in Helmand, but specialists say the trend is worrying, particularly in view of ongoing fighting between NATO and Taliban insurgents in the area.
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Top UNHCR official outlines options for camp closure in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, February 21 (UNHCR) – Voluntary repatriation and camp closure in Pakistan were at the top of the agenda as Janet Lim, director of the Asia-Pacific Bureau at the UN refugee agency in Geneva, consulted government officials and Afghans on her first visit to the region this week.

On Wednesday, Lim travelled to Peshawar in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province to review the structure for voluntary repatriation, which is scheduled to resume on March 1 after the winter break. She also met with officials from the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees (CAR) as well as Afghans in Katchagari, one of four camps slated for closure this year as agreed by the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"I know this is a difficult time, but you have to accept that the camp is closing. You'll have to make some difficult decisions, and we'll try to make the process as smooth as possible," Lim told Afghan elders at Katchagari, which is set to be closed by June 15.

"UNHCR has always insisted that any returns must be voluntary and that relocation to existing pre-identified camps for those not repatriating remain as an option. I urge you to make your informed decision," she added.

One elder replied, "We are grateful to the government of Pakistan for all they have given us. And we are very aware that the camp was supposed to have closed in 2002. But no one ever asked us why we can't leave.

"The main reason is that there is no peace in Afghanistan. Unless and until there is peace, no health or water services can be restored. Even if we go back, we don't know where to settle. We need rehabilitation inside Afghanistan," he said.

According to CAR, the government has identified existing camps in Dir and Chitral in the northern part of the province as relocation sites for Afghans who cannot return for the moment. Some Afghans have complained that the sites in Chitral are inaccessible during winter due to heavy snow.

"If we go to relocation camps, it will be difficult and expensive for us to build our houses again," noted one elder. "We would rather go back to Afghanistan if there is peace and services."

Another elder said, "For us, going to Chitral and Afghanistan are the same thing. We just ask that UNHCR provides assistance and services. In Afghanistan, there is a lot of desert. If you provide land and water, we will definitely go back and settle down there."

The decision to close Katchagari, Jalozai, Jungle Pir Alizai and Girdi Jungle camps – as part of camp closure and consolidation plans this year – was reaffirmed earlier this month at the Tripartite Commission meeting between Afghanistan, Pakistan and UNHCR.

At the same meeting, Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Ustad Mohammad Akbar Akbar noted that, as part of reintegration efforts, his government was developing 50 townships for returnees and hoped to double the number within three years.

The UN refugee agency is standing by to facilitate camp closure by providing options – first, through assisted voluntary return to Afghanistan with a two-phased approach. From March 1 to April 15, Afghans who did not register in the just-concluded government registration exercise will be able to benefit from UNHCR-assisted repatriation. From April 16 to November 15, those with Proof of Registration cards can repatriate under new modalities and an enhanced assistance package.

Afghans affected by camp closure who cannot repatriate at the moment will receive transport to, and assistance in, the government-identified relocation camps in Pakistan.

During her four-day visit to Pakistan, Lim also met with senior government officials as well as key donors and partners. While this is her first visit in her present capacity – Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia were recently absorbed into UNHCR's Asia-Pacific Bureau in an internal restructuring move – Lim is no stranger to the region.

She served as director of technical advisory section, relief, recovery and reconstruction for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from 2003-2004. She is scheduled to continue her journey to Afghanistan and Iran till the end of the month.

UNHCR Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Janet Lim with the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, Nasir Azam Khan. © UNHCR/V.Tan
By Vivian Tan In Peshawar, Pakistan
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Taliban crossings build border anger
Afghan, Pakistani officials trade blame as fighters move back and forth with ease - GRAEME SMITH - From Thursday's Globe and Mail
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The angry words between leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan reached a new pitch in recent days as politicians from the two countries blamed each other for the Taliban's growing strength.

Politicians often hurl insults at their counterparts across the mountainous border, but the accusations grew more pointed this week as a senior Pakistani official described the Taliban as fighting a "liberation war" against troops occupying Afghanistan, and an Afghan governor responded by accusing Pakistan of attacking his country with the help of Taliban proxies.

"They're fighting for Pakistan, with the help of Pakistani rupees," said Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid, speaking to a small group of reporters at his office. "It's not a war for independence; it's a war for money."

The latest round of verbal sparring started on Friday, when Ali Mohammed Jan Aurakzai, governor of Pakistan's vast North West Frontier Province, told a press conference that Afghanistan has brought the insurgency upon itself. "It is developing into some sort of a nationalist movement, a resistance movement, sort of a liberation war against coalition forces," Mr. Aurakzai said.

The NWFP governor, a retired lieutenant-general, was appointed in May of 2006, after Pakistan had waged a bloody and unsuccessful campaign against insurgents in the lawless border province. Less than four months later, Mr. Aurakzai brought an official end to the fighting with a controversial peace deal that gave Taliban fighters amnesty on condition that they stop their violence.

The U.S. military, which patrols along the nearby Afghan border, has complained that the agreement gave insurgents more freedom inside Pakistan and has resulted in a sharp increase in cross-border attacks.
Mr. Aurakzai defended the peace deal, saying that infiltration of militants across the border causes, at most, 20 per cent of the fighting inside Afghanistan.

"With the passage of time, [Taliban] strength has been swelling and today they've reached the stage that a lot of the local population have started supporting the militant operations," the Pakistani governor said.
Two days later, Kandahar's governor slapped a printout of the Pakistani official's remarks on a coffee table with disgust. "This is shameful for General Aurakzai, because he is Pashtun, and the insurgents are killing Pashtun brothers on both sides of the Durand Line," he said.

The Kandahar governor was referring to the Pashtun ethnic group that straddles the border, also known as the Durand Line, which has never been accepted by Afghanistan as a legitimate international boundary.

Observers say that Pakistan's reluctance to take action against the Taliban is related, in part, to Islamabad's fears of Pashtun nationalists who call for independence or unification of tribal areas with Afghanistan.
Rather than offering assurances that Afghanistan has no aggressive intentions towards Pakistani territory, Afghan officials often speak favourably about the Pashtun nationalists who agitate inside Pakistan -- mirroring the rhetoric from some Pakistani officials, who describe the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan as a Pashtun uprising.

"In Pakistan there are some nations working for independence," Mr. Khalid said. "But over the last three decades they were under pressure because of the fighting in Afghanistan."

The Afghan Foreign Ministry in Kabul also issued a strongly worded condemnation of the NWFP governor's comments this week.

In Islamabad, a government spokeswoman distanced the Pakistani government from the remarks, saying they were misinterpreted. The two governments officially co-operate on security issues, and a new Joint Intelligence Operations Centre in Kabul, staffed by military officials from both sides of the border, is scheduled to be fully operational by April.

Located inside the Kabul headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the JIOC is intended to improve relations between the tense neighbours by allowing officials to share information.

But Afghanistan has already given Islamabad its intelligence about the location of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan, Mr. Khalid said, and Pakistani authorities have failed to take action.

"Everywhere in Pakistan, in famous cities, they have Taliban training centres -- in Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar," he said. "In the meantime, they talk about checkposts at the border. They must destroy the training centres."
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Official: Pakistan can counter terror
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer Wed Feb 21, 9:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON -  Afghanistan's ambassador said Wednesday that real power in Pakistan is in the hands of that nation's army and it is capable of countering extremism and terrorism along the countries' border.

"The real institution in charge is the military," Said Tayeb Jawad said in an interview, sidestepping an assessment of the effectiveness of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Afghanistan long has criticized Pakistan and its president as not cracking down on training camps on its side of a long border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan, by contrast, says it is working hard to counter terrorism. On a visit to Washington last September, Musharraf won praise from  President Bush. "We are on the hunt together," Bush said, referring to  Osama bin Laden, leader of the al-Qaida network, and other terror chiefs.

But Jawad said the army holds the cards. "The army is a powerful and capable institution to reduce the influence of extremism and also to fight terrorism and extremism effectively," the diplomat said.

One mechanism the two countries are exploring is empowering tribal elders on both sides of the border to use armed tribesmen to reduce raids by insurgents.

Jawad said Afghanistan and Pakistan have established a commission to take up the proposition and hope to have a joint jirga, or meeting, in early spring with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Musharraf attending.

All countries affected by terrorism, including Pakistan,  NATO countries and the United States, should work together to reduce the threat posed by terrorism, he said.

Pakistan has been a refuge for Taliban and al-Qaida militants since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the hardline Taliban militia from Afghanistan at the end of 2001.

An upsurge in border crossings by Taliban fighters is widely expected this spring with the melting of snow in the mountains.

Last year some 4,000 people died — mostly militants — in clashes with U.S. and other NATO forces, particularly in Afghanistan's south and east. It was the worst bout of violence to rock the country since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.
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From Iraq to Afghanistan
By Malcolm Farr - February 23, 2007 12:00 Daily Telegraph
THE Federal Government yesterday refocused its anti-terrorist efforts from Iraq to Afghanistan with a warning of a looming "do or die" showdown. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said a review was being made of troop requirements and hinted the crack SAS units might be deployed to the war-ravaged country again.

"All of our intelligence suggests that the Taliban will this year mount a significant do-or-die offensive across Afghanistan, including in Oruzgan," Dr Nelson said. "If we do need to redeploy Australian defence forces to Afghanistan, we will."

Australia currently has some 550 soldiers in Afghanistan, including 370 as members of the reconstruction task force. Two Australian Chinook helicopters, supported by 110 personnel, operate from Kandahar. They will withdraw at the end of next month.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd backed the strengthened effort, saying that $3 billion in "narco finance"' from the heroin trade was paying for terrorism. He also said the Bali bombers had trained in Afghanistan.
"For five years Labor has been a consistent supporter of the war against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan, just as we have for the last four years been a consistent opponent of the war in Iraq," he said.

The Government yesterday rejected Labor cals for a troop reduction in Iraq to match the 1500 pull-down announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The rejection came as an exclusive online poll for The Daily Telegraph revealed little support for an open-ended Australian commitment to the war in Iraq.

Just 26 per cent of more than 3200 respondents agreed that Australian troops should "stay the course" in Iraq with 34 per cent wanting to bring the troops home now. A further 39 per cent agreed with a withdrawal over the next few months.
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France defends its military contribution in Afghanistan
CanWest News Service - Wednesday, February 21, 2007
OTTAWA - France says it is not abandoning its Canadian ally in volatile southern Afghanistan and has chided Canada's Senate for publicly suggesting that.

The French embassy in Ottawa this week sent a letter to Liberal Senator Colin Kenny after the upper chamber's national security and defence committee, which he chairs, criticized France and Germany in a report for not sending troops to southern Afghanistan, where Canadian soldiers are battling the Taliban insurgency.

While Canadian politicians and military officials have complained in recent months some of their NATO allies are not pulling their weight in southern Afghanistan, they have refrained from singling out specific countries.

But French officials decided they could not stay silent after Kenny's committee crossed that line. "The general message that we want to send is that France has not turned a blind eye to Canada's call for help," said a senior French diplomat.

The Senate report urged Canada to send more personnel to train Afghan army and police officers, and it questioned how some countries could contribute to this function because it could expose them to combat.

"Since NATO countries like Germany and France don't want to engage in battle, how will this training get done?" the report says. "Some of our allies are doing a lot of saluting, but not much marching. So what does this say about the future of NATO?"

In their rebuttal to Kenny, the French point out they are playing an important role in training the Afghan army, with 51 instructors committed to April to training efforts in the volatile southern and eastern regions, and further commitments beyond that to train special forces.

The letter also points out France's 1,100 ground troops are charged with securing the "fragile" capital of Kabul, which has also come under attack from suicide bombers and faces threats from Taliban infiltrators.

The letter notes Paris has foot the bill for some very expensive military hardware to support Canada's efforts, including air support and helicopters.

"Fighting in Afghanistan is not only about having more men on the ground but also air support which we can provide, but you know it represents a high cost," said the diplomat.

Canada has not deployed fighter jets to the Afghan mission, but has said it would buy large tactical lift helicopters later.

The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, with 2,000 troops, is being deployed to the Indian Ocean, to support the NATO mission in Afghanistan. French air support has already dropped at least one 250 kg bomb in support of Canada's efforts to fight the Taliban, and France has dispatched two EC 725 Caracal transport helicopters.

"We are so heavily committed elsewhere that we can hardly do more neither in Afghanistan, nor anywhere else by the way, although we would like to, of course," said the French official.

France has 16,000 troops deployed on foreign soil, making it the second largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping and third overall contributor to NATO. This includes 1,650 troops in Lebanon, 3,700 to the West African country of Cote D'Ivoire, 1,100 in Chad to prevent violence from spilling over from neighbouring Darfur, as well as 2,200 in Kosovo.

By comparison, Canada has slightly less than 3,000 troops deployed on foreign soil, with 2,500 of them in Afghanistan. Sudan is the recipient of the next largest contingent of Canadian troops with 44 military personnel attached to UN missions in the country's troubled south and western Darfur region.

"Of course, we end the letter by paying tribute to the courage of the Canadian forces in this country," the diplomat said.

Since 2002, 44 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan. France has suffered 10 military fatalities in Afghanistan since then, but its embassy pointed out the country has lost 200 soldiers in the Balkans and Lebanon as well as "dozens" in Africa in recent decades.

Last week, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor backed away from the tough talk that has been directed at some NATO countries, saying the alliance now has the resources it needs to do the job in the south and eastern sections of Afghanistan.
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Liberals back Afghan mission until 2009
CAMPBELL CLARK - Globe and Mail Update
OTTAWA — The federal Liberals will support Canada's NATO mission remaining in southern Afghanistan until 2009 but call for another country to take over afterward, according to sources in the party.
Split between hawks and doves, Stéphane Dion's opposition party has hammered out its long-promised common-ground position that includes signalling to allies that Canada will give up the leadership of the Kandahar-based NATO mission at the end of its current tour, two years from now.

When he took the reins of the Liberal Party in December, Mr. Dion said he would have little patience for a rising Canadian death toll unless the mission achieved better results. But he also faced a faction of MPs, including deputy leader Michael Ignatieff, who adamantly oppose early withdrawal.

Tomorrow, Mr. Dion will deliver an address in Montreal outlining his party's new position. Liberal sources said the key elements have been hammered out in meetings of MPs over several weeks.

Canadian troops moved from Kabul, the Afghan capital, to the more dangerous Kandahar province at the beginning of 2006, where a reconstituted Taliban has conducted a series of bloody offensives. Forty-three Canadians have been killed since the Canadian military deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002.

Last spring, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper extended the mission, initiated by the previous Liberal government, to February 2009. But some candidates then running for the Liberal leadership, including Mr. Dion, suggested Canada might consider withdrawing sooner.

Now, the Liberals have decided to back the current Kandahar mission until the end of that current deployment, hoping to avoid criticisms that they would abandon a Canadian international commitment.
They will also argue that the mission is misguided and losing support from Afghans, that the West should change its approach and that Canada should tell NATO to find another country to take over the mission in 2009.

However, one Liberal said that does not mean Mr. Dion will rule out a possible future role for Canadian troops in other parts of Afghanistan.

That position will allow the Liberals to criticize the Conservative government on its conduct of the Afghan mission, but might also reduce its impact as an issue differentiating the two parties in an election campaign. Now only the NDP is calling for early withdrawal.

In addition, the Liberals will propose changing Canada's approach to Afghanistan, including a bigger commitment to development aid, political efforts aimed at broadening the support of the Afghan government and combatting corruption, and dealing with the illegal opium-poppy crop that helps finance the Taliban.

The Liberals say public support for the mission is waning because the Conservatives have focused Canada's role too much on military efforts and not enough on diplomacy and development aid. The Conservative government has insisted it is doing both, but that it is impossible to deliver aid without securing a strife-torn region.

Many experts have recently called for a major increase in both troops and aid. In January, the United States and Britain announced increases in their troop contingents in the country, and U.S. President George W. Bush said he would seek an additional $10.6-billion over two years.
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Canadians pay Afghan farmers for land
Canadian Press  - Thursday, February 22, 2007
PATROL BASE WILSON, Afghanistan (CP) - Money, it seems, does not buy peace of mind, especially for war-weary Afghan farmers, who have over the last couple days received C$938,000 in compensation for land bulldozed by Canadians to build a road west of Kandahar.

For refugees returning to their homes in Zhari district after being driven away months ago by heavy fighting, the money is welcome recompense, but there is still a deep sense of unease.

"We're very disappointed about the insecure situation in this region," said Bismalah, a farmer with a deeply lined face, who returned to his land three weeks ago.

"The only thing we need is security. This is our wish. If the Canadians give us hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, but we are living in an insecure situation, we don't like money; we like security."

In order for Bismalah and roughly 55 other farmers to get their money, they had to pass through a security cordon that included personal searches, armed escorts into the base and a display of Canadian military firepower in the form of a pair of Leopard C2 tanks.

For Shafikahn, a somewhat more affluent landowner, it was an illustration that the peace around here was tenuous at best and the recent decision to flee his home a second time was justified. "Half of our family is still living in the city so we decided to move back to the city," said the remarkably tall farmer who could only guess his age to be between 40 and 48 years.

"The reason is we are scared that maybe somebody will do something evil in this area, open fire or put some mine in this area and we'll be taken and accused for this. For this reason we left this area."

The construction of Route Summit, a 4½-kilometre stretch of pavement that connects the once-volatile Bazaar-e Panjwaii with the region's main highway, was a military necessity. The old, winding gravel road served as a magnet for Taliban extremists who persistently mined the area.

Three Canadian soldiers died defending the road and its construction crews since building began last fall. And even now as the asphalt is applied the army maintains a series of heavily fortified positions along the route strong points it eventually intends to turn over to Afghan security forces.

Arriving back home after spending the better part of four months in rented flats in nearby Kandahar, both farmers said they were surprised to see the road on their property, but have now adopted a community-minded attitude.

"I was a little bit upset with (NATO) when I saw the road on my land, but Afghanistan needs new roads and schools . . . for the public, so I'm very happy," Bismalah said through a translator.

The compensation each farmer received varied, depending upon the amount of land they own and how much of it was chewed up by the road and 45 metres of clearance required on each side.

It is the second settlement handed out by Canadians, as farmers along the southern portion of the route, right outside of Bazaar-e Panjwaii, received their payment totalling $218,000 early in the new year. With the illegal narcotics industry a backbone of the economy here, there was careful vetting of each application.

"We are not paying for anything other than the loss of use of legal land," said Col. Bob Chamberlain, the new commanding officer at the provincial reconstruction team base.

"The government of Afghanistan's policy and the government of Canada's policy is we will not pay for hashish plants or marijuana plants or simple (plots of) sand. It had to be proven agricultural land or residential land and this process is clearly understood by the Afghans."

In negotiating the rates of payment, Sgt. John Courtney, the local civilian-military affairs team leader, had to live down Taliban propaganda that claimed Canadians wouldn't pay for the land and the reputation of the Soviets, who's heavy-handed expropriation tactics still live in the memory of rural Afghans. The Russians, he was told, would simply take whatever they wanted and dictate the price.

It took months of delicate negotiations to win the trust of not only farmers, but local village elders. "You need to include the Afghan people and because rightfully so; it's their land and they need to involved in the process," said Courtney, whose last official duty before heading home was to watch the envelopes stuffed with Afghan dollars handed over to the farmers.

The compensation was separate from the actual cost of building the road. The Canadians assumed the roughly C$500,000 for the design and building of the 1.4-kilometre portion running into Panjwaii. The Germans have agreed to spend the equivalent of $1.8 million for the northern portion in Zhari, while the Americans are expected to build the bridge over the Argandaub River.
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Crimes of politics
Los Angeles Times editorial - 02/22/2007
Many members of Afghanistan's parliament are alleged war criminals. But the nation isn't ready to try them.

HOW DOES A government prosecute people for crimes against humanity when the suspects happen to be running the government? That's the question facing Afghanistan, where men suspected of horrifying acts of rape and murder sit in parliament and hold other high offices.

The question of what to do about these suspected mass killers heated up Tuesday when the upper house of Afghanistan's parliament passed a resolution calling for amnesty for those accused of war crimes. The same resolution has already passed in the lower house and will become law if approved by President Hamid Karzai. Its success is unsurprising because many of those voting on the resolutions were previously regional warlords who might otherwise be subject to prosecution.

Following the Soviet pullout in 1989, Afghanistan was torn by years of civil war, during which warlords who had fought in the resistance movement began battling each other ? and committing atrocities against civilian populations. Then, in 1996, the Taliban came to power, and it ruled until the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. At the time, the United States found these disaffected warlords to be convenient allies, but now they're creating some serious governance headaches.

The ideal solution for Afghanistan would be to create a body similar to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which, starting in 1996, helped heal the wounds left by decades of apartheid rule. Those who committed human rights abuses were granted amnesty if they publicly testified about their crimes. Yet South Africa, unlike Afghanistan, didn't have to contend with entrenched politicians who control large swaths of territory with armed militias. It also had the capacity to prosecute those who refused to step forward, while Afghan courts are a work in progress.

Nonetheless, the parliament's amnesty resolution is a step backward. It's hard for the Afghan people to have much faith in their government when many remember all too well the campaigns of terror waged by some of their current leaders. Where the government has no credibility, the rule of law doesn't hold sway.

So if court trials are an impossibility, reconciliation is impractical and amnesty is self-destructive, what's left? For now at least, the status quo. Karzai's best course would be to reject the amnesty law until the country is ready to face the horrors of its recent past. The international community, especially NATO, should be doing more to help Afghanistan build the institutions and civil society necessary for it to do so.
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British soldier killed in Afghanistan: defence ministry
Wed Feb 21, 1:55 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - A British soldier was one of two  NATO troops killed in  Afghanistan on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence in London said

"There were two NATO deaths today. One was British. He was a Royal Marine from 45 Commando, which is based in Arbroath (eastern Scotland)," a spokeswoman told AFP.

"He was killed by an anti-personnel mine during routine patrol of Sangin district, which is part of Helmand."

The soldier's death brings to 47 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001 against the country's former hardline rulers, the Taliban.

NATO officials in Kabul said earlier Wednesday that the other fatality was a Spanish soldier. He was killed and two others were wounded in the western province of Herat when a mine hit a joint International Security Assistance Force and Afghan police convoy.

Fourteen foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including the two on Wednesday. Eight US servicemen were killed early Sunday in a helicopter crash.
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Spanish soldier killed, 2 wounded in Afghanistan
February 21, 2007
MADRID (Reuters) - One Spanish soldier was killed and two were wounded when their convoy of armoured ambulances was attacked in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

She was killed when the convoy was attacked near Shindand, south of Herat, while troops were on their way to support Italian soldiers training the Afghan army.

"At the moment, we are investigating who carried out the attack and how. At the moment, everything seems to point towards a high-potency mine," the ministry said.

Spain has almost 700 soldiers based in western Afghanistan as part of the 35,000-strong NATO forces there.

The defence ministry named the dead soldier as Idoia Rodriguez Bujan. She was from Lugo, northwest Spain.

The two injured soldiers have been transported to Herat and are out of danger, the ministry said.
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Afghan Rambo is the lone ranger in a town emptied by the Taleban
The Times (UK) / February 21, 2007 Anthony Loyd in Helmand, Afghanistan
With only his gun and gangster films for company, a single shopkeeper sits in his stall in Tangye. The rest of the once-thriving bazaar town, the largest centre of population within the security zone cleared by British forces around the strategic Kajaki dam, fled long ago.

Man, woman and child, the entire population packed their belongings at the behest of the Taleban and decamped for villages beyond the area of British influence.

Not one has returned, and the bazaar’s 630 shops, hub of commerce to more than 200 neighbouring villages, now gaze emptily from each side of the dusty streets.

Yet “Rambo” stays on. As an electrician, who also trades in pirate DVDs and secondhand radios, he has not seen a single customer since last summer.

But the eccentric former Mujahidin, who gained his nickname from British Royal Marines amused by the din of gunbattles coming from his small TV in a language he cannot understand, is also a policeman, and the proximity of the station allows him to protect his stall between shifts.

Enrolled into the Kajaki district force last year, after only ten days of training, Rambo is one of 56 policemen stationed on the north bank of the Helmand river.

Overlooked by the British camp on the south side of the river, they are responsible for providing law and order for the hundreds of villages throughout the district.

The Afghan police are essential to the future success of the Royal Marines’ operations around Kajaki. But they are barely able to move much farther than the riverbank.

“Before the trouble started here last year, I could travel into any village in the district with just two or three of my men,” the police chief of Kajaki, Haji Faizullah, said. “Now, with one man, I can travel perhaps a kilometre from here. With ten men I could go two. We couldn’t go farther than that.”

As the Marines have pushed out on missions to clear Taleban from around the dam to allow essential reconstruction, they have found that the entire civilian population have abandoned their homes, making the secure zone more of a cordon sanitaire.

Without the enticement of employment, moves to encourage the civilians to return have so far been stymied by the grip of the Taleban in the villages beyond. When local police and Afghan troops are strong enough to fill the vacuum, establish checkpoints, provide a sense of security and communicate with local elders, that may change. But that moment seems far away.

The Afghan lawmen in Kajaki have a long list of complaints, besides having no population to police. Surrounded for nine months, and reliant on helicopter lifts for food and ammunition, many have not seen their families since last summer. They feel abandoned by Helmand’s governor and the police chief in distant Lashkar Gah.

Their own logistics officer deserted to the Taleban last autumn with 13 Kalashnikovs and two motorbikes. Only a quarter of the force have been paid their wages of $70 (£36) a month. And distrust exists with the Marines across the river.

British commanders in Kajaki have not used the police on clearance operations so far, concerned at their lack of training and reliability. Many of the policemen are illiterate. Some cannot tell left from right. And far fewer numbers of the Afghan National Army than those expected have arrived in Kajaki, limiting efforts to use them as an alternative force to engage the distant population.

Psyops (psychological operations) leaflets dropped by Nato aircraft appear to have had no impact on the civilians either. Rather than focus on the potential employment opportunities afforded by the dam project, they have concentrated on the might of Nato bombing capabilities or defeating the Taleban.

“If the leaflets just say, ‘Get rid of the Taleban’, then they’ll alienate a lot of the people they could get working,” Sergeant-Major Rick Groves, the dam project’s liaison officer at Kajaki, said.

“Some of the local Taleban could be employed here. Forgive, forget and get them working. It would be better if the leaflets did not even mention the Taleban.”

British commanders admit that they would struggle to raise a local workforce of even 20, the initial aim — there are no civilians left to employ in their area of control.

On the other side of the line, the Taleban remain free to preach, coerce and intimidate the civilians. As each day passes without civilians coming into contact with Afghan security forces, employment or the benefits of electrical power from the dam project, their mindsets may be hardening.

“This war can’t be won by the British operations alone,” Mr Faizullah concluded. “Until we are strong enough to go out with the British and talk to the people ourselves, they will remain scared and far from us.
“If the violence continues like this then the Taleban propaganda will affect their opinions, and they will start to support the Taleban side.”

The cost of rebuilding

-A 2001 report co-authored by the UN estimated that the cost of rebuilding Afghanistan would be $2 billion-$3 billion

-By September last year the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, a multilateral facility administered by the World Bank, had been pledged $1.7 billion and received $1.4 billion

-More than $860 million of this has been disbursed to the Afghan Government to help to cover recurrent costs, and $214 million has been used for investment projects

-Last year the British and Afghan governments signed the Development Partnership Arrangement, a ten-year agreement that includes $976 million in aid

-In October there were 1,290 not-for-profit organisations registered to work in the country

Sources: Asian Development Bank; USIG; World Bank; Center for Public Integrity
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Fighting the wrong war in Afghanistan
By Dad Noorani Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Feb 23, 2007
KABUL - In the lead-up to an anticipated Taliban spring offensive against the Afghan government, international assistance to the war-torn country has increased.

The United States recently committed US$10.6 billion, which includes $8.6 billion to beef up the country's security forces. It will also contribute armored vehicles and light arms to the Afghan National Army (ANA).

The European Union has promised a 600 million euro (US$786 million) assistance package for Afghanistan for 2007-10. The

package will focus on three key priority areas: reform of the justice sector; rural development, including alternatives to poppy production; and health.

India will contribute $100 million toward reconstruction. In addition, the United Kingdom has promised to send 800 additional soldiers to take on the Taliban, while US President George W Bush has decided officially to boost US forces in Afghanistan by delaying the departure of a 3,500-unit combat brigade that had been scheduled to return home this month.

This will leave a record 24,000 US troops deployed in the country. Of these, about half operate as part of a 34,000-troop North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) peacekeeping force and the rest under separate US command.

From the very first day the Democrats took control of the US Congress, they declared that the US will refocus attention on Afghanistan and increase its military and non-military assistance to the country. Thus top party members Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi visited Afghanistan last month.

Although this renewal of commitment to Afghanistan is welcomed, the overwhelming emphasis on winning peace by military means is not likely to succeed, as has been the case in the past.

Afghanistan's mounting problems cannot be solved by military means alone. It needs much greater assistance for reconstruction, development and improvement of governance.

The problems are not purely home-grown. Sustainable peace in Afghanistan depends on the destruction of the vast terrorist support infrastructure in Pakistan and the arrest of the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership hiding in that country.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have operational bases in Pakistan's Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province, from where they plan attacks against Afghan security forces and Western troops.

This raises the issue of whether more assistance largely spent on non-development priorities will actually help to improve the situation in Afghanistan.

A study of donor policies over the past five years has convinced many analysts that if the international donor strategy concerning Afghanistan continues to operate on the same assumptions, there will be little reason to expect the security situation to improve.

The widely promoted assumption that more NATO troops and increased US military action are the only way to defeat the Taliban is both naive and dangerous.

The more NATO expands its operations in Afghanistan and the more the US military pursues its myopic hunt for Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, the more it risks the lives of its own soldiers and the fewer resources the international community has to invest in ANA and the Afghan National Police (ANP), and in reconstruction and fostering civil society.

Each NATO soldier costs an average of $5,000 a month to maintain in Afghanistan, while the average ANA soldier takes home $60 a month. A pay raise plus a more robust training program for ANA and ANP personnel would surely attract more Afghans to serving the national security force and, for those who are already part of it, reduce the high rate of desertion. The resources spent on an expanded NATO and US military mission should therefore be replaced with a new strategy.

The most difficult part of such a strategy is that it requires the moral authority and courage of the US to end its "hunt" for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. NATO cannot assert itself as a stabilizing force in Afghanistan as it did in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina if the US Defense Department is waging its own, parallel "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
(Reporting for this contributed by The Killid Group.)
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Prodi's Government Risks Collapsing After Losing Afghan Vote
By Steve Scherer
Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government risks collapsing after the ruling nine-party bloc fell two votes short on a motion to keep the country's military contingent in Afghanistan.

While today's motion was non-binding, it was a signal that Prodi doesn't have enough backing in the Senate to renew funding for the Afghanistan mission. That vote is scheduled for next month. Opposition leaders immediately asked for Prodi's resignation.

``The government took a real hit,'' said Franco Pavoncello, a professor of political science and president of Rome's John Cabot University. ``The government probably won't collapse, but it's going to have to invent a way out of this.''

The renewal of funding for Italy's 1,800 soldiers in Kabul and Herat must be passed through both houses of parliament by the end of March. In an earlier speech, Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema urged his allies to support keeping Italy's military contingent in Afghanistan as a way to promote peace. The motion voted on was to support D'Alema's position.

D'Alema said yesterday that divisions over Afghanistan could lead to the collapse of the government. Today, he tried to emphasize Italy's commitment to aid Afghani civilians and to seek a political solution to continued fighting there.

No Slip Up

``This isn't just a slip up,'' said Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, who is the leader of a Catholic party in the ruling bloc. ``We'll need to evaluate whether those who said `no' today are saying `no' to the government as a whole.''

Two honorary life-appointed senators who supported the government in confidence votes last year didn't vote today, and two members of the ruling coalition who want Italy's troops pulled out of Afghanistan rejected the motion.

``Prodi's government has just fallen,'' said Vito Schifani, the leader of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party in Rome's Senate.

Prodi said he would meet with President Giorgio Napolitano as soon as possible to inform him of the ``situation in light of today's Senate vote,'' according to an e-mailed statement. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Prodi didn't give any indication that he planned on handing his resignation to Napolitano.

As many as nine senators who are part of the ruling coalition want Italy to end its Afghan mission and have threatened to oppose renewing funding in a vote set for March.

U.S. Appeal

At a Feb. 8 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Seville, Spain, the U.S. appealed to its European allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan, calling for a fairer sharing of the military burdens in the battle against the Taliban.

Prodi has said he won't commit additional troops, while pledging to maintain Italy's current commitment.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Afghan force now has 35,460 troops from 37 countries, led by the U.S. with 14,000 and Britain with 5,200. American, British, Canadian and Dutch troops are doing most of the fighting in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan, while nations such as Germany, France and Italy restrict their forces mainly to the calmer north and west.
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H5N1 bird flu found in poultry in eastern Afghanistan, U.N. says
The Associated Press February 21, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghan authorities were culling poultry after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in chicken in an eastern Afghan city, a U.N. official said Wednesday.

Bird flu was reported in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, said Serge Verniau, the country representative of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization in Afghanistan.

Samples of chicken in the Nangarhar provincial capital of Jalalabad were found to have the H5N1 strain, while the exact type of the outbreak in Kunar has yet to be confirmed, Verniau said.

Afghanistan reported its first outbreaks of H5N1 in March and April last year in the capital Kabul and the provinces of Kapisa, Logar and Nangarhar. There have been no reported infections of humans.

Bird flu predominantly affects animals, but the H5N1 virus also has made the jump to humans in some countries, killing at least 167 people worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

The latest Afghan outbreak was reported a day after authorities in neighboring Pakistan closed a zoo in the capital Islamabad following lab tests that confirmed H5N1 in its peacocks and geese.

"We do not know whether it is the same strain as the one which appeared in Pakistan," Verniau said.

Afghanistan is a crossroads for migratory birds and there is considerable trade among countries in the region, he said.
via  International Herald Tribune
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Media rights group calls for press freedom
Pajhwok Report
KABUL, Feb 21 (Pajhwok Afghan News): The Paris-based media rights group Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) has asked the Ministry of Information and Culture to ensure freedom of expression in Afghanistan.

In a letter addressed to the Minister for Information and Culture, the group says the government should ensure that the proposed amendments to the country's media law do not violate freedom of expression. 

"The media law that was adopted in March 2004 was hailed as a major step forward for free expression and press freedom in Afghanistan," the letter said.

"It lifted some of the constraints on the media and played an important role in the process of national reconstruction. It would be regrettable if the efforts undertaken by the authorities in recent years were to be dealt a serious setback by amendments resulting in more censorship."

The revision of the media law in the name of "respect for Islamic values" is due to be carried out next month. Although the proposed amendments have not yet been made public, statements by parliamentarians indicate it would result in firmer control over the content of TV programmes, which some people regard as "immoral", said the letter.

Welcoming the letter, spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Culture Hamid Nasiri Wardak said the draft law was forwarded to the parliament when Makhdoom Rahin was in charge of the ministry.

He said the ministry was in favour of freedom of expression in the country and they would defend it through all legal means.
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AKDN closes office after Christianity protests
FAIZABAD, Feb 20 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Angry protests by residents and local religious scholars forced officials of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) to close down its sub-office in the northern province of Badakhshan.

Residents say the protests were sparked by distribution of pamphlets and booklets by the AKDN officials 'inviting people to Christianity.' The angry protestors, led by local ulema (religious scholars), attacked the AKDN office in Keran-o-Minjan district three days back.

Mohammad Shafi, 55, a prayer leader in the district and one of protestors, told Pajhwok Afghan News the AKDN office had started preaching and inviting locals to convert to Christianity.

He asked the government to arrest those responsible for the heinous deed. The people would continue their protest till the arrest of the AKDN officials, he warned.

Another protestor, who did not disclose his name, said the AKDN and some other non-governmental organisations were preaching Christianity in the province. He said they would not allow the AKDN or other NGOs to convert people to Christianity.

Provincial chief of AKDN Mohammad Darajat, however, rejected the allegations and said their office was not involved in anti-Islam propaganda. He said the Kiran-o-Minjan office of AKDN had halted operations and the staffers had been sent on leave for security reasons. 

Deputy Governor Shamsur Rahman Shams said some miscreants had shown versus of the Holy Quran to local mullahs with some distortions, which touched off the protests in the district. He said the papers had been printed in Pakistan.

Maulvi Ataullah Mohammadi, member of the provincial ulema council, said they would also join the protest if the AKDN was found involved in any anti-Islam activity. He said the government must arrest and punish those responsible for the act.
Jafar Tayyar
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Afghan Paper Criticizes Performance of Parliament, Army, Police
Excerpt from article in Dari, "When salt decays", published by report by Afghan newspaper Daily Afghanistan on 18 February

Salt is an antiseptic. It prevents infection and it is used to prevent things from decaying. But what happens when salt decays? Today, we can witness salt decaying.

A number of independent and semi-independent media outlets emerged with the installation of the interim administration after the fall of the Taleban regime. This made everybody hopeful. Those who believed in the role of pen and journalism also believed that it was a powerful and guiding force which alongside other government levers of power would prevent it from slipping and strengthen it.

In any event, the media did its job one way or another. They revealed secrets and published untold stories. We have heard from radios, seen on television and read in the press on more than one occasion that the police cooperate with smugglers. We have heard many times that the Afghan National Army is involved in banditry. [Passage omitted: Details of individual cases]

Instead of working as law enforcers and supporters of the people, the national army and police have themselves broken the law many times and have been found to be accomplices of the criminals to the extent that even police chiefs have not respected the laws of the country or national sanctities. [Passage omitted: Details of individual cases]

Instead of establishing the truth, the courts of law in Afghanistan are examples of the worst and most corrupt institutions of all times and places, a self-evident reality that nobody can deny. They represent the most decayed salt that Afghanistan wanted to apply to its wounds caused by wars to prevent infection.

The National Assembly was our last hope. However, this body too has turned into a part of the larger decayed body. It has turned into salt. We wish it had not but it has turned into decayed salt. We know people who have been trying for a year to get their money from the parliament, but they cannot. They have committed the crime of selling office equipment to parliament. Why do they not pay the people their money? There is certainly a problem but who can find it out? Parliament summons others. Who would hold parliament to account? Will anyone dare do so? So what about the problem of the people who have been standing behind the doors of the parliament?

In any event, these issues relate to the administrative affairs of the assembly. They too have the right to ask for their percentages because that is neither permitted nor forbidden in this government. [Passage omitted: Some prospective MPs promise people jobs to get themselves elected]

Some honourable representatives consider it part of their normal duties to appoint one person and sack another. Such representatives have not been told that they have their own defined set of duties and responsibilities. Hence they work in dual capacities of ministers and people's representatives. It is not the job of a representative to appoint a district governor. If a representative is to nominate a district governor, what will the Office of Administrative Affairs and the Ministry of Interior do? Or maybe it is like this: We will give you the authority to nominate the district governor on condition you cast your vote in such and such a way on such and such an issue or do not participate in voting at all, or cast a vote against. There is something going on.

The incident that occurred after the election of Mr Mobarez in Parchaman District, Farah Province, is a rare incident with an unlikely precedent. It was interesting to me, and maybe other people too, to see an honourable representative admit in front of television cameras that he forged the signature of a fellow representative to facilitate the appointment of a particular person as district governor. I am sorry. He does not know what has happened and who has asked him to apologize to everyone fast or he would be imprisoned. He did apologize in a manly demonstration of courage. [Passage omitted: Others have apologized too.]

Anyway, the salt is so decayed that the chances of eliminating corruption are bleak. Let us see what God is willing to do.
Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia
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